Ryan: Trump 'messed up' with Charlottesville response

RACINE, Wis. — Speaker Paul Ryan said President Donald Trump “messed up” in his response to the violence in Charlottesville when he failed to denounce white supremacy and provide moral clarity at a time the country needed it.

At a town hall here in his southeast Wisconsin district, Ryan told a crowd of about 300 constituents that Trump “made comments that are much more morally ambiguous, much more confusing” than he should have.

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“I think he could have done better,” Ryan said at the event hosted by CNN’s Jake Tapper, later adding: “I do believe he messed up in his comments on Tuesday when it sounded like a moral equivocation… when we needed moral clarity.”

Ryan, who rarely pushes back against Trump and often deflects questions about the president’s controversial comments, said he spoke with Trump personally a week ago and implored him to make a stronger statement. The conversation came after Trump initially said "many sides" were at fault for the protests that resulted in one death and many injuries.

The speaker said he asked Trump to “singularly condemn this bigotry,” and he applauded Trump’s statements later that day calling out neo-Nazis and the KKK.

But Ryan said Trump “messed up on Tuesday” when he went off script during what was supposed to be a press conference on infrastructure. Reverting to his original statement, Trump defended as "fine people" some of the people who attended the rally and marched alongside white supremacists.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican or Democrat… Every single one of us needs to unify against this repugnant vile bigotry,” Ryan said. “We all have to stand up and speak out against this kind of bigotry.”

Ryan, however, refused to call for Trump to apologize for his Charlottesville response, as his former running mate Mitt Romney did recently. “I just think he needs to do better and I think he just did,” Ryan said of Trump.

Some in the audience groaned, suggesting they didn’t believe it was enough.

“It is very very important that we not make this a partisan food fight,” Ryan said as he said he voiced opposition to censuring the president, as some Democrats are pressing to do.